Monday, July 27, 2015

Oral Language in Literacy Development


The Role of Early Oral Language in Literacy Development

From Language Magazine

http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=5100    July 2015

Timothy Shanahan and Christopher Lonigan explore the connection between early oral language development and later reading comprehension success

Some short excerpts, but I encourage you to read the whole (4 page) article.

“Supporting young children’s language and literacy development has long been considered a practice that yields strong readers and writers later in life. The results of the National Early Literacy Panel’s (NELP) six years of scientific research synthesis supports the practice and its role in language development among children ages zero to five.

The NELP was brought together in 2002 to compile research that would contribute to educational policy and practice decisions that impact early literacy development. It was also charged with determining how teachers and families could support young children’s language and literacy development. Outcomes found in the panel’s report (2008) would be used in the creation of literacy-specific materials for parents, teachers, and staff development for early childhood educators and family-literacy practitioners.”

….

“High-level language skills used to create mental models of text are not exclusive to reading. In fact, children begin developing these language skills well before formal reading instruction in a range of language comprehension situations. For example, young children rely on knowledge of narrative structure to do things like follow a set of instructions, share their daily activities around the dinner table, or understand spoken stories, cartoons, and movies.”

 

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